a different kind of vacation
by flerna
Summary: ratchet's met a lot of girls all battle ready and really smart, but after crash landing on earth he meets another girl whos not really smart nor battle ready but could be his only chance of getting home if he doesnt get found first RatchetxOC
1. prologue

Ratchet woke up sore, his vision was blurred and he was sure that he was bleeding.

After what happened he's not surprised, all it took for this to happen was one patrol round the edge of the universe and getting sucked into a black hole trying to evade Slag's crew, stupid pirates.

Ratchet struggled to get up and get a better look at where he was, it looked like a small grove of trees as he could see the exit leading to a field with a building at the end ratchet crawled to the exit to look closer but enough not to be seen in the field.

as if one cue shouts and scream of joy were heard as furless creatures moved around and played the larger ones sitting on blankets and watching. on the heads of these creatures were locks of fur or hair of various colours, lengths and styles they ran and jumped on two legs with two arms flying about their bodies were clothed in what ratchet thought as strange cloths some of the more female creatures wore short light clothing and the same went for the males. no one had any armour or weaponry as if danger didn't exist here.

The whole thing left Ratchet speechless not from pain but awe.

"Interesting" said a voice behind him, making ratchet jump and looked behind him to see his metal companion staring at the inhabitants.

"Why Clank?"

"It seems we have landed on an uncharted world one that hasn't been touched by other star systems at all" he stated watching the inhabitants

"Any idea what they are?" Ratchet asked as he sat down from his wounds as Clank examined them

"Well my sensors indicate that they are carbon based and that they have a varied intellect"

"Meaning they could help us?"

Clank looked down and shook his head "it doesn't look like they have any knowledge on how and I'm afraid that they might not welcome us being here being an uncontacted world"

"So what do we do then?" ratchet winced as Clank started to tend to his wounded arm

"Perhaps befriend one of them and learn about their race so we can see if they know how to fix the ship" he pointed to the ship half buried in the ground behind him that obviously is in need of repair

"But first we'll need a disguise to fit in, ratchet do you still have that old Tyrraguise?"

"Why?"

"Because I thought you could alter it so it would make you look like one of them as well as talk like them"

"Well we'll see wont we?"


	2. the new guy

**I don't own ratchet and clank insomniac does**

**Hope you guys enjoys **

Chapter 2

Scarlet sighed she was getting really bored by now with maths. Sure she was good at it but going over secondary school stuff got boring even when her test was next month.

Scarlet glanced at the clock and went back to her work, glancing every now and then to her peer who tends to misread the questions. Even though she tried to focus on her work her mind was elsewhere, she got word from her tutor that a new student was staring today, and he came from the same town as her.

"Right we'll finish there guys as we're out of time and I'll see you guys next week" stated the teacher

Everyone started to pack up as scarlet left the room in a hurry, sure she liked her peers but sometimes she just rather be alone, to think. She sat in front of the room she was in next with her eyes closed and music plugged in, her thoughts began to sway from her work to other things, like space and the stars and how beautiful they must look.

But like others she could never touch them. She sighed and looked up to the skylight where she could only see blue sky. Sighing again she hung her head when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs next to her

_Great they're back from where ever they went to_.

She glanced to one side where she heard the footsteps but what she saw made her look longer.

A boy about her age and height came up with golden blond hair that framed his face though his eyebrows were brown. His green eyes looked round as if he was lost, he wore a brown t-shirt that was darker on the sides and sleeves than in the front and dark navy trousers and brown boots he also wore a pair of brown gloves to complete his look.

All in all, Scarlet knew that she's never seen this guy before, but being her usual self she kept quiet and looked away, not wanting to get his attention.

She always did this, even when she first came to this college she always kept silent except when answering the tutors questions but all of it got her the title of geek and nerd but she didn't mind she saw herself as bit of a loner anyway, and people would probably call her depressing when they hear her taste in music.

The boy however came up to her anyway; looking down at her he asked what she thought he would "hey is this the level 2 class?"

Scarlet gulped as she looked up "um yes it is….. uh?"

"Richard"

"n-nice to meet you" she smiled shyly

Before they could say anything a commotion sounded from the stairs this time a whole lot more students came up all chatting away and being- as scarlet calls them- idiotic twits, as one almost fell backwards after mucking with one of the others.

"Well lookie here guys, new meat" said one of the guys who was an obvious bully by way of looks and speech go

"And as usual nerdy bookworm Scarlet is sitting by the door like a lost dog" added one of the more meaner girls that was clinging to the bully's arm like a towel

"Yeah too bad it's not very smart or it would actually be useful instead it just plays video games and read stupid comic books that aren't even the right way round"

"Yeah what an idiot"

Scarlet did her best not to cry she could handle being called a nerd or an idiot but being referred as an it and being called useless was a stab in the heart to her.

She was about to let her dam break when the new guy broke in

"Hey leave her alone will ya"

"Oh-oh-oh look like this ones trying to be a hero well look here kid this thing is useless and sticking up for it, well it's just not healthy"

"Oh yeah (?)" Richard smirked sarcastically as the bully launched a fist at him

Richard though was faster than he looked after dodging his fist he grabbed it and hurled the bully to the opposite wall. After that everyone was silent as the bully scurried away "huh, he's not so tough" Richard mused as he turned back to scarlet

"You ok?"

"Mm-hmm thanks"

"No problem by the way what's you're name?"

"Scarlet, Scarlet Ruby" she answered as Richard held out his hand to her.

Hesitating, she took it and let herself be pulled up meeting his eyes as she was standing up, realising that she was staring she jerked backwards and grabbed her stuff before following the others into the class.

Once she took her seat she tried to be as unnoticeable as possible, but that didn't stop Richard from sitting next to her, as he did she visibly shrunk in her seat "hey you ok?"

"Uh-huh" she replied as she buried her head in her textbook as the teacher came in, and class started

Fifteen minutes in, and most of the students where half asleep but Scarlet wasn't listening to any of the tutors rambling as she just doodled pictures of her favourite games, all the while Richard was taking notes with great speed and every now and then glanced at Scarlet's drawings, he noticed that the one she was working on looked like Talwyn Apogee and she was taking great care on the detail on it.

"Hey that's really good"

"Hm? Oh um thanks I guess" she replied dismissively as if she was in another world

"That kinda looks like-"

"Talwyn Apogee from R and C: tools of destruction, its one of my favourite games" she giggled in embarrassment

Richard though was dumbstruck "so uh what's R and C mean anyway?"

"Ratchet and Clank what else?" she smiled back

Richard smirked slightly _well what d'you know_ "so you like them then?"

"Uh-huh I think those two are the coolest game characters along with five others" she giggled and smiled to him

"Who are the other five?"

"Nuh-uh I am not telling, at least not til I know you better" she pointed out

"Fair enough" Richard chuckled as they went back to their studies

As the class ended Scarlet speedily packed up and literally ran for the exit leaving Richard in the class but this left him more curious so he ran to catch up with her,

He caught up with as she left the building "hey scarlet wait up!"

The girl jumped and turned round "oh Richard sorry" she chuckled

"Mind if I walk with you to the station"

"Ok, I have to get on the train at the station too"

"Yeah where you getting of at?"

"Same place as you" she laughed

"Really? You're not kidding?"

"Nope"

"Cool so do you mind if I walk with you?"

"No in fact, id love it" she smiled

It was as they started walking that Richards pocket started beeping "oops, sorry I should take this"

"Ok no problem Rich" Scarlet smiled

Richard answered his phone "hello"

"_Ratchet?_"

"Yeah what is it?"

"_Where are you, I have found something that is very important to tell you_"

"Ok im on my way I'll be there soon ok"

"_Ok please be careful, I do not trust these creatures_"

"Your just paranoid, look gotta go" he hung up and turned back to Scarlet

"Sorry about that"

"No prob rich, sounds like your friend had urgent news" scarlet chuckled as they headed to the train

Both Richard and Scarlet sat down in the train seat as it started heading back towards their home town

But nothing was said between them, Richard stared over to Scarlet the whole time trying to read her but she just stared out the window just pondering

_I wonder what Rich's story is? I mean why on earth did a cool guy like him defended a geek like me or even why did he enrol in the most boring college in the UK? I bet that guy has a cool intellect as well as cool looks_

She glanced over to Richard as he jumped and looked away, but scarlet didn't notice but looking at him she couldn't but feel that she knew him from somewhere but even that didn't stop her from blushing at the sight of him.

Shaking it off she looked back out of the window when she thought she saw something flash in the sky, but she put it down to a trick of the light, that or someone playing with RC helicopters

She glanced back to Richard who now had a troubled expression on his face as he looked out the window apparently searching the sky for something

Scarlet was about to ask when they came to their stop so she thought that it could wait a while, both teens got up and left the train and walked casually out of the station when Scarlet was grabbed into a shoulder hug by another teenage boy with short black hair, dark blue shirt, jeans and black trainers as well as a wristwatch on his right arm

"Well Scar how is it hanging baby?" he casually asked

Scarlet just growled "for the last time, STOP. CALLING. ME. BABY!" she pushed the guy away but the guys simply chuckled and went to hug her only for scarlet to push him back by his face

"Your so cute when your mad sweetie"

"And don't call ME that EITHER" she stepped to one side and let go of the guys face causing him to fall on his face next to her

"Honestly, if there's something I hate more than Krew, quark or Xehanort its you, for the last time I DON'T LIKE YOU OK? Your irritating, perverted and nothing I say ever gets in your head" she sighed irritated

"Look honey, I like you but that geek talk is getting weird" the guy smirked causing Scarlet to glare at him again and sighed

Richard couldn't help but smirk _at least she hates Quark too_ he walked up to Scarlet and smiled

"Hey Scar we going or what?"

"Sure rich" scarlet smiled but the guy first saw Richard and his love struck smile turned into a scowl as he stood up

"Uh baby cakes? Who is this?" the guy grabbed Scars shoulder defensively

"Ugh his names Richard ok? Richard this jerk is called-"

"The names Gordy I don't believe I've had the pleasure, Richard" he spat out the last word as if it was poison

Scarlet rolled her eyes and picked Gordy's arm of her shoulders and stepped to Richards side "see ya Gordy, come on Richard" she smiled at Richard,

Gordy looked hurt at Scarlet but that was followed by a death glare to Richard

"What's his problem?" Richard asked as he looked back following Scarlet

"oh he's just a guy from my old school who believes that I'm his girl or something, honestly I don't even like the guy he's always trying to get me to change he doesn't even like me drawing says it's a waste of time and anti-social, not to mention he goes mad when he even sees me near another guy" Scarlet sighed

"Yikes"

"Don't worry im sure after a while he'll leave it alone I mean he has to if we go to the same school" Scarlet giggled at the thought of Gordy fuming every time she and Richard walked to the train together

They walked down the towns streets together but were silent until Scarlet starting staring at the sky

"You ok?"

"hmm oh yeah im fine just like to stare at the sky sometime, think about what's out there, stars, planets galaxies, and whether or not there any life out there and if they even know about us or even if their tech is advanced as we think it is"

"Maybe" Richard shrugged

"Hmm well if there is I hope they're friendly and not warmongers, we have enough war here as it is"

"No kidding" Richard agreed glumly he found out about this planets wars by TV news reports

"Yeah" scarlet looked down glumly

"What's up?"

"Nothing just,"

"Just?"

"It's nice to actually talk to someone and them actually listening"

"Why wouldn't they?"

"Cos im considered a geek"

"Why?"

"Cos I like manga, anime and video games"

"Manga and Anime?"

"Japanese comics and cartoons" Scarlet explained Richard smiled again

"Ah ok so whereabouts do you live?"

"Just passed this next street" Scarlet pointed out

"I'm staying just a little further then that"

"Well maybe you can come over sometime" Scarlet smiled

"Hmm maybe have to check with my room mate though" Richard nodded

"Ok that sound fair, hey maybe he can come over too I live on my own and I always welcome my friends"

They came up to house that wasn't very large but was good enough as it had a balcony at the front on the first floor and a porch and a tree in the front garden "well this is me" Scarlet mentioned as she looked at the building

"wow I didn't know you lived that close Im just over there" Richard pointed over to a old run down building with a large shed at the back that was over run by vines that was just across the road

Scarlet looked over to the building "look like it needs a bit of work" she chuckled

"Yeah but it's what I could afford"

"Yeah? Well don't be a stranger rich, your welcome any time" scarlet called

"I'll hold you to it"

"Ok Rich see ya"

"See ya"

Scarlet smiled and turned to her home, she paused at the door and turned to see Richard crossing the road, smiling she went inside and collapsed on her sofa that was in her living room

She laid on the sofa before grabbing the TV control from the coffee table and turned the TV on and settled on watching her shows.

On the other side of the road Richard hurriedly got inside of the house just as his disguise flickered before turning off revealing the lombax known as Ratchet, _man that was too close_

Ratchet locked the door before moving into the dark living room, in contrast to the house opposite the house that Ratchet was staying in had torn wall paper and wash out floors, although the roof wasn't leaking, the house was barely liveable

The sofa itself was in a rundown state as was the staircase,

The floor creaked under Ratchets feet as he walked over to the living room at the back of the house

Once there he looked round the room before calling out "Clank! You there buddy?"

"Yes I am right here Ratchet" the small robot called from behind the sofa that was in the middle of the room

"So why did you want me back so soon"

"I have detected a ship outside of this planets atmosphere"

"So we might be able to get them to help us?"

"I am afraid not Ratchet as we have no way to communicate to them and I am afraid that I do not know if the ship is friendly or not"

"Now that's just great why don't you know?"

"Because I can not get a clear enough reading from this lack of equipment"

"Great (!) So what now?"

"I have a reason to assume that you have made a new friend, Ratchet"

"Yeah just a human that lives opposite, why?"

"Perhaps she could be of assistance to us if she knows the area she could help us with our predicament"

"Maybe we'll see"

Ratchet mused as he looked over to where Scarlet's house was unaware of what was happening at the other side of town

In a closed down warehouse a lot of mechanical sounds were heard as a young boy known as Gordy hiding in a long coat, his slicked black hair shone slightly in the warehouses light

"Yo boss bot ya there?" Gordy called out into the darkness as he stood the single light

A whirr of gears was heard as a group red triple eyed robots came out of the shadows with claw like hands, amongst them was a blue humanoid robot with a glass dome on his head showing the gears that were inside

By body and walk alone you could tell that this was the evil Dr. nefarious

"What do you want squishy" he yelled

"Sorry boss but you did say that I'd be able to get the girl but it seems as another bloke's got her interest" Gordy said sadly

"Well sor-ry but I have no interest in your hopeless love problems"

"Now listen boss cos im not finished the guy you described to me that ratchet guy right?"

Dr. nefarious raised one of his eyebrows and Gordy's grin got bigger

"Well the guy that I saw my girl with, well he matched the description apart from the fact he was human but I saw a device on him that was no way near human"

"Really?"

"Yeah so here's a question for ya boss? Know any device that allows a lombax to look like another race?"

At this sentence the maniacal doctor grin evilly seeing this Gordy smiled himself

_Watch out alien Scarlet's MY girl and you're a dead man walking_

**Ok so there's chapter 2 so tell me what you think **

**Don't worry ill describe Scarlet next chapter **


	3. just an ordinary morning

**Chapter 3**

As the sun rose the next morning only the sound of gentle snoring was heard in Scarlet's house as she slept.

Her room was fairly large with light blue wall covered in artwork from numerous games and anime, the floor was covered in a beige carpet with a dark blue rug, the room had a built in wardrobe but the doors were covered by game posters and the odd dragon poster, her two desks sat in the corner of her room one of which held her comics and magazines and computer, whilst the other was covered in half-finished drawings and art books. As the light peeked through the light blue curtains Scarlet stirred in her large dark blue bed before her radio blasted music as a headphone jack was pulled out of its socket.

Noticing the change in the music's source Scarlet started to force herself awake her very short brown hair sticking up in all directions as she yawned and attempted to switch her radio off, after a few attempts she succeeded in doing so but fell out of her bed in the process.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes she stumbled to her feet as she got her bearings, before moving out of her room in her black pyjamas towards the front of the house and to the bathroom.

After sorting out her toiletries she felt a bit more with it as she walked back to her room and towards her chest of drawers to get dressed, discarding her pyjamas onto her bad and getting her underwear on swiftly, she moved to the more important items, she grabbed her blue t-shirt and her jeans and slipped those on quickly, before putting on her favourite necklace round her neck.

The necklace was a simple one of a blue orb and black string. After her stuff was on and she had pulled the curtains back to let the light in she scurried down the stairs to the kitchen before pausing… and headed to the front door grabbing her black and purple inline skates from the shoe rack, her favourite brown jacket from the wall hooks and her phone and headphones from the table before heading out the door and sat down on the porch.

_I forgot I need to get some milk_ she thought as she sat down on her porch doing up the laces on her skates, slipping on her jacket and putting her music on as she place her headphones on her ears, she locked her house before casually skating out of her home and down the road to the corner shop almost stumbling a couple of times dodging people coming the other way.

Getting there was easy and so was getting the milk and paying for it, but getting home was tricky as it was uphill from the corner shop but downhill from the station, as this time Scarlet stumbled a lot more.

She was a few more steps from her front gate when a loud boom was heard from the house opposite "what the?"

Scarlet abandoned her attempt to go home and skated over to the opposite run down building with her milk in the plastic bag in her hand along with a few over items.

When she got past the rotting gate that was half off its hinges another loud boom was heard making her jump 3 feet in the air, looking at the house she could see smoke escaping out of what should be the kitchen window.

After she made sure that the building wouldn't collapse at any second she made her way to the door after nearly tripping on a upturned stone on the cobblestone path that was overrun with weeds, Scarlet carefully climbed up the rotting stairs and almost fell onto the door but managed to stop herself before then, after composing herself she knocked and waited as she heard scuffling behind the door.

Inside the house a young Lombax was in the now smoking kitchen when the knock was heard, making him jump and rush to the window that showed the visitor who was watching the door, "phew its only Scarlet, must have heard the explosion" he mused as Ratchet started moving towards the door checking his adjusted hologuise projector that he made to look like a normal watch, after making sure that there was enough charge to last the day he activated the watch making him look human.

"Ratchet? Who is at the door?" called the metallic voice of Ratchet best friend Clank.

"It's just Scarlet Clank, don't worry but its best that you hide" he suggested as he got to the door.

Clank did just that and hid in the cupboard that was in the hall as Ratchet or Richard opened the door.

Scarlet smiled as the door opened and she saw the face of a slightly soot covered Richard.

"Morning Rich" she greeted.

"Hey Scarlet," he replied with a smile "what's up?"

"Oh um I heard a loud noise and saw smoke coming from your kitchen window and I was wondering if everything was alright?" she asked.

Richard simply chuckled as he answered "yeah we're fine just trying to get the oven to work so I could grab some breakfast before class" he rubbed the back of his head but still kept the door half closed.

Scarlet raised an eyebrow before speaking "um Richard, its Saturday there's no classes on today" she explained making Richard look nervous.

"ha-ha but I guess you might not be with it quite yet are you?" she smiled making Richard mentally sigh in relief before carrying on "but if you want you can come over my place I haven't eaten yet either had to go to the shop to grab some essentials" she held up her bag a little.

Richard look behind him quickly as Scarlet made sure that everything was in there, when Richard spied Clank watching from the cupboard the little robot smiled and nodded motioning Ratchet to go with Scarlet, Ratchet smiled before turning back to Scarlet "you ok?" she asked

"Yeah I'm fine, and yeah that'd be nice Scar"

Scarlet felt herself blush a little before she spoke again "um what about your room mate? He can come too if he wants"

"I'm sure he'd like too but he already left for work you see and he doesn't get back til late" he defended making Scarlet's face fall slightly.

"Sad I wanted to meet him too" she stated but she managed to force a kind smile when she looked up at Richard

"I'll go get everything ready and if you want, you can hang out with me, t-that is if you want to" she trailed of.

_You've barely met the guy scar don't get your hopes up again like last time just because he called you Scar and smiled a bit at you._

"Sure let me just get this gunk of my face and I'll see you there" Richard replied before Scarlet smiled and left skating over to her own place, Ratchet waited until she was inside before closing the door to his hideout and turned round sighing as Clank came out of his hiding place.

"That was too close" he sighed in relief and switching his hologuise off and started to move to the stairs.

"Indeed it was, Ratchet, but it was also nice of her to allow you into her home" Clank mused as he followed his friend.

"Yeah but I can't stay there all day Clank I need to fix Aphelion somehow" Ratchet mentioned as he quickened his pace making Clank do the same.

"I realise that but if you gain the girls trust we may be able to get her to assist us in some way"

"I'm not going to use her Clank you know that" Ratchet growled as he climbed up the stairs towards the bathroom.

"Yes but having a friend here would be a good idea wouldn't you agree?" Clank pointed out when Ratchet was on top of the stairs.

Ratchet didn't answer but instead paused in his tracks and looked towards Scarlet's house.

_Yeah I guess it would be._

Back at Scarlet's place Scarlet was putting her shopping away where it needed to be when the phone started to ring, making Scarlet jump as it was right behind her "Silly girl, next you'll be jumping at shadows" she chuckled as she picked up the phone and answered "Hello?"

She was answered though by a large squeal of joy that made her pull away from the phone, after a while she slowly put the phone back against her ear "Hi Cassie" she chuckled.

"_Scarlet you won't believe it there's word going about a new sly game, I am sooo getting that"_

"You called me at 8 on a Saturday to tell me that?" Scarlet asked and chuckled

"_That and to see if you wanted to hang out today?"_

Scarlet looked towards the door as her face fell thinking about the guest she'll be having soon "well, I've got a guest coming over today, my new neighbour's blown his cooker up so I offered to cook him some breakfast as I haven't eaten yet"

"_You forgot to buy milk again didn't you_?"

"Yes Cassie, I did, now you're welcome to come over later and meet my neighbour if you want but give us half an hour first ok?"

"…_..ok"_ she gave in as Scarlet gave out a sigh while her friend hung up as the doorbell rang from the front door,

"That must be him" Scarlet smiled as she put her headphones of her neck and placed them onto the table and went to the front door.

But who she met there was not who she was expecting, "Hey baby" Gordy smiled as he leant on the doorframe.

Scarlet groaned and started to close her door but was stopped by Gordy "whoa honey that's no way to treat your boyfriend"

"You're not my boyfriend Gordy you're not even a friend" Scarlet stated as she tried to push him away but he insisted on staying where he was.

"Oh I'll think you'll change your mind when you see what I got for you" Gordy smirked as he reached behind him and pulled out two tickets.

"Tickets to a movie I think you'll love"

"Which is" Scarlet asked sceptical

"That vampire love film" Gordy smiled

Scarlet though pulled a look of disgust and gave him a strong shove down off the porch.

"NOT IN A MILLION YEARS" she yelled

"So I'll take that as a maybe then?"

"Gordy seriously, clean out your ears"

"Everything ok here" Scarlet looked up at the new voice to see Richard by the front gate.

Seeing him she smiled "yeah just a pest problem being taking cared of come on in Rich" Scarlet motioned as Richard moved round Gordy as he sat there dumbfounded by Scarlet's kindness to Richard and not to him.

_What does he have that I don't? I mean I'm so much better looking than him and I'm actually human as well….. That's it! She must not know he's an alien._

Upon realising this Gordy discreetly smirked as he watched Richard walk past

_Oh but when she does find out, she'll be begging me to protect her from you, all girls hate aliens no matter what they look like_

As Scarlet threw a quick glare towards Gordy as she led Richard inside Gordy hid his smirk with a scowl directed at Richard.

Once she slammed the door behind her Gordy took it as the signal to stand up.

As he turned and left his smirk once again played onto his face

_Oh man boss bot's gonna love this._


	4. a wierd way to spend a saturday

**Ok sorry this took so long….and I put it up without waiting for my beta, I got too pressured ^^; anyway I wont write the next chapter til I get two comments/reviews on this chapter ok ? ^^**

**Anyway I don't own ratchet and clank insomniac does ^^**

**Hope you guys like the chapter**

**Chapter 4**

Scarlet closed the front door hoping that Gordy will get the message this time and leave, before heading into the kitchen with Richard following, the walls of the hallway were blue and were lined with a few pictures of Scarlet with others,

One of which was one of her as a little girl smiling with an older man and woman, when Richard stopped and looked at the photo he assumed the adults were her parents,

"Hey Richard how'd you" Scarlet trailed of when she saw Richard look curiously at the family photo

Smiling she went up to him and spoke "that's me and my mum and dad"

Richard jumped a bit and turned to look at her still curious "are they here?"

Scarlet shook her head sadly "no dad disappeared eleven years ago and mum lives north of the country she still visits me on holidays though, and sends me money to live by monthly but her work requires a lot of her time so she's out of the country a lot too" Scarlet smiled as she looked at the photo

"Sorry" Richard apologised looking down

"Don't be its not your fault" Scarlet smiled and left for the kitchen again with Richard following

Trying not to think of her father, Scarlet went about making two omelettes with frankfurters as Richard walked in "oh just to warn you a friend of mine will be popping in to hang out to day" Scarlet warned not looking away from what she was doing

Richard just sat down quietly at the table and looked round; the kitchen was fairly big, with cream walls lined with white tiles at the counter, an old cooker that was working fine stood near the corner with a microwave, kettle and toaster on the counter next to it

Freshly clean dishes on the drying rack near the sink that was next to the door looking out to the garden as the light outside lit up the whole room

Smells of egg and hotdog filled the air as well as the sunlight as Scarlet cooked happily, humming as she did so,

When she was done she instantly turned off the cooker and cut the omelette in half and put both half on separate plates giving one of them to Richard before sitting with her own at the opposite end of the table, and started to eat quietly,

Not wanting to be rude, Richard also ate quietly not speaking until both were finished, before she picked up both plates and placed them in the sink

"You're a good cook Scar" he mentioned as Scarlet turned round

When he said it Scarlet started to blush but hid it best she could "thanks" she smiled

When Scarlet looked up she found herself looking straight into Richards eyes again, seeing the emerald eyes she smiled,

_I don't know why but...those eyes…they feel so familiar, like an old friend_

Scarlet couldn't help staring at him for what felt like hours, until the doorbell rang once making them both jump in surprise .

Scarlet chuckled once she calmed down "must be Cassie, I'll get it" Scarlet sighed and walked over to the front door but who she saw wasn't Cassie.

No, this girl was another acquaintance of hers, a plain pink shirt covered her small chest and a black pleated skirt hugged her hips, a lab coat over the outfit and heavy black and pink boots also completed the girls look. She also had short black hair with indigo eyes that has a slightly crazy look to them, but her face was oddly kind, despite her pale skin.

"Oh hey charlotte" Scarlet greeted the female who simply nodded in return,

"Greetings miss ruby, how are you doing this morning?"

"Fine, so what brings you here?"

"I hear you have the new subject over here" she bluntly said moving to come inside,

Remembering what happened last time Scarlet blocked the door and kept it half closed

"So… can't you let the new guy have at least a week's warning before you start "examining" him?"

"Why wait?" charlotte raised an eyebrow

"because what if he survives your tests and tell the police on you…again" Scarlet reasoned, knowing charlottes last run in with the police after that accelerated hair growth experiment.

Charlotte glared at Scarlet for a while as she stood in the doorway blocking her entry before sighing and turning away "very well, one week" she put a lot of emphasis on the one week part before leaving.

Scarlet breathed a sigh of relief as she closed the door turning to see Richard behind her

"So…who was that?" he asked

"Um…the town's local brainiac…charlotte harlequin…. Though I'd be careful round her… she has a tendency to only see others as test subjects for her more "extreme" experiments" Scarlet explained before looking up at Ratchet and pulling up her jackets sleeve to show where a burn mark faintly shows "this happened the last time she used me as a guinea pig… and burnt down my old shed"

As Richard looked at the burn his eyes widen slightly as Scarlet lowered her sleeve back down not noticing how close she was to him.

"Well that's what I get for letting her test a new moisturiser she made on me" she smiled a bit before a black and white cat walked between her legs with a mew

"Ah, there you are sprocket, I was wondering where you got too" she giggled as she picked the cat up and snuggled against its fur, before cuddling it in her arms

"Cute little guy" Richard stated as he stared at the cat before reaching to stroke it

Only for it to hiss at him and swipe its paw at him,

Scarlet though tapped its nose "sprocket no, you don't do that to guests, sorry he doesn't like strangers very much" she apologised as she looked up at him

"Nah, its fine, I'm used to worse anyway" Richard chuckled as a few memories came up from his previous adventures, before looking up to see Scarlet's blue eyes gleaming at him happily.

Richard smiled as he saw the cat looking more than happy to be in the human girl's arms as it closed its eyes fully, before going past her to check out the window to make sure no one else was gonna interrupt but as he got one inch of the door,

It flew open smashing him into the wall behind it with a yelp, in the doorway was the culprit

A cheery girl with magenta hair up in a side ponytail whilst the shorter strands of hair shaped her face, freckles dotted her young face as her light green eyes looked in with a mischievous smile; her chest was covered by a large necked blue jumper with one sleeve hanging of her shoulder under a sleeveless purple jacket, under the low hanging sleeve out of sight was a bracelet with a blue gem on it similar to Scarlet's necklace, her legs were clothed in normal denim jeans under a dark purple skirt that had lighter purple patches on both sides, her feet were also covered in blue boots with a lighter curved y shaped décor, her look was completed by her plum purple nail polish and light purple glasses on her face.

"Yo Scarlet how's it hanging?" she greeted oblivious to the poor boy she had trapped behind the door

"Hi Cassie" Scarlet replied with an embarrassed smile before continuing "um you have someone trapped behind the door you know" she said as she pointed to Richard

Cassie looked round before yelping and shutting the door behind her letting Richard breathe again, as he was released he instantly bent over with his right hand on his stomach gasping for breath

"Oops sorry bro" Cassie giggled as he recovered

After he got his breath back Richard straightened up and glared at Cassie before sighing

"Richard this is Cassandra lilac, my old childhood friend" Scarlet explained

"Yo what's up? Call me Cassie" Cassie waved in greeting before taking sprocket out of Scarlet's arms and proceeded to snuggle against it, with the cat not looking one bit impressed by her actions

Scarlet giggled a bit before motioning them to follow her into the back room

Richard followed behind Cassie as she and Scarlet talked about things like, college work, Scarlet's little projects, Cassie's weekly news of what going on in town, but what Richard was interested about was how they both seemed to be so interested in space, and video games, but how little they touched on subjects like boys, teen drama or family problems

It kinda reminded him on how he and Clank were….

Though his thoughts were disrupted by Scarlet yell

"Cassie he is not my boyfriend! I only just met him for one thing and another-"she was cut of by Cassie

"Oh come on scar, your eighteen already so it's about time you did get one so that Gordy will leave you alone" she giggled

"Ill get one when I'm ready Cassandra" she growled a little before remembering Richard was there and hung her head "when someone actually likes me"

Cassie just sighed in defeat before cracking a smirk "changing the subject do you remember what you promised?"

Scarlet looked up and nodded a little "I remember just let me set the room up ok?"

Cassie cheered and threw are arms up in the air confusing Richard and making him smile in amusement as they came to the living room at the back of the house

The living room was quite big, with pale blue walls and cream carpet a black leather sofa curled round a coffee table while a large flat screen TV hung on wall it faced, under the TV was a large TV stand of some sort with a lot of games consoles, a ps2, ps3, Xbox 360 and a Wii stood on the top of it whilst numerous games filled its compartments along with controllers and other parts for them.

"Make yourself comfortable guys* Scarlet smiled kindly as she went over to the stand and knelt down to connect the ps2's connection cable to the TV

Cassie immediately dropped herself on the sofa and sat ready with a goofy smile, Richard sat down also, although he was confused by what those two were up to he felt compelled to join them

Scarlet finished setting up quickly as she grabbed a wireless ps2 controller and checked its battery before handing it over to Cassie and went back to select the game and switch the TV onto its game settings.

She flipped the volume up to the way she has it for films and games as her room had surround speakers, before quickly going over to the large slide door leading to the large garden that started to become wet as rain started to fall, as the TV went to its setting Scarlet went back and turn the console on and opening the disk tray as she picked up the game box,

Though Richard try to see what it was he was in the wrong position to see past her to see what she was putting on, after successfully putting the game in the console she smiled and nodded walking over to them and pointing at Cassie "don't you dare start til I get back Cassie" she glared playfully as Cassie did a playful pout

"Fine I won't but be quick" she added as Scarlet left as the ps2 carried on its no disk display

Within seconds Scarlet came back with a tray of snacks and a bottle of black fizzy liquid and glasses "got some refreshments" she smiled as she put them on the coffee table in front of them and sat in-between Cassie and Richard giving Cassie a nod to say that they can start.

Cassie beamed as she went to the memory card option and selected the disk so that the console would start the game,

Scarlet sat back on the sofa but Richard carried on watching with interest

"You can have a go if Cassie gets stuck if you want" Scarlet mentioned with a smile

Richard nodded too a little confused by the awkward feeling growing in his chest when the games company came up on screen followed by the games menu, though for some reason he looked down that whole time not wanting to see what the game was til they started.

Cassie's smiled "finally I've wanted to play this series since forever"

"You're lucky I managed to fix this one and find a copy of number two" Scarlet giggled

Cassie promptly selected a new game in one of the empty slots when Richard finally looked up and sat back in his seat and watched the screen

Only for his eyes to widen when he saw…himself when it all started with him building his ship on veldin

Scarlet though smiled as she watched as Cassie was on the edge of her seat in excitement

But Richards's eyes were transfixed on the screen as it played

Everything it played was exact, the movement the scenery, though dubbed down as a game was almost exactly like what he knew and even the voice and words were alike

His eyes widened even more when it came to meeting Clank if that was even possible but as soon as the cut scene stopped playing he looked to one side hiding his surprised he knew from Scarlet that she knew him from a game, but he still wasn't ready for that

"And here we go" Cassie chirped as she started to play, getting used to the controls first before starting to progress to the end of the level with Richard chuckling at a lot of her comments on how those bot were being unfair sneaking up behind her, and Scarlet reminding her to look around for stuff to break

They fell silent when the second cut scene entered waiting til Clank first spoke making Ratchet yell and fall of his box before Scarlet giggled a bit

"Never gets old that" Cassie chuckled as Richard sweat dropped looking at them

_Still hurt though_

Scarlet stopped giggling as she spoke to Cassie again "still….im glad they changed the voice actor the one from number two onwards seems to suit him more"

_They changed the voice actor for me? Ok…._

Richard looked up at the screen and understood why, Clanks voice sounded exact but his voice…..was a little of

Though he could feel his anger rising when he saw Drek again he couldn't help but chuckle at the end with both the girls

"So unprofessional" Cassie laughed

"Yeah, though Drek was a jerk that one clip made him lose that air of evil"

They carried on playing cracking joke here and there about the characters like how the plumber seems to show in almost every game and how Qwark's voice also changed, how the mouths sometimes didn't fit the words but mainly on how many times Cassie died before Richard took over when they got to black water city

"Man I hated this level" Scarlet sighed

"Ok…why?" Richard asked as he took the control

"You'll see" she answered simply

It wasn't till a few minutes when he found out what she meant, the flooding tunnel when she groaned gave it away

But she was surprised with how quick he got passed it and over to the next planet

"Whoa" was all she could say "your good…have you played this before?"

"Nope first time" Richard smirked

He carried on playing it remembering each surprise that the game successfully copied but could feel his anger rise up when Qwark betrayed them

"Honestly he went from being a villain to a complete idiot"

"Who?" Cassie asked

"Qwark who else or should I say quack" Scarlet answered earning a laugh from Richard which made her blush a little

_Keep it together scar…don't let your heart rush just cos you've just met him and he laughed at a joke_

She kept watching as Richard progressed but couldn't help saying something

"If he was ever real and I do meet him do you know what I'd do if I ever met Qwark?"

"What?" Cassie asked curious, Richard also couldn't help but glance at her curious about her answer

"I'll kick him in his oversized chin that's not even close to the size of his ego that's what" she laughed making both Cassie and Richard laugh too

_Oh I like this girl _Richard thought as he continued with a smirk as he continued playing remembering how he lived through everything, and was impressed on what people thought of him as a hero

It wasn't until they got to Pokitaru when scar was given the controller and she immediately started to work on getting the skill points as well as going through the level with reasonable ease though died quite a lot more than Richard, making her pull an embarrassed face whenever she got passed a hard part.

They continued playing the game, laughing and joking all the time, whilst nibbling on the snacks and the coke

After a while Scarlet looked up at the clock and saw it was nearing six o'clock

_Maybe we should go out for dinner?_

Scarlet stood up as Cassie saved and turned the game of, as Richard smiled and looked down with his memories

"Hey…anyone up to going out for pizza?" Scarlet asked kindly

Cassie let out a loud cheer, making Richard jump and look at Scarlet's smiling face

"Sorry what? Spaced out back there"

"I asked if you wanted to go out to the local pizza place" Scarlet repeated with a chuckle

Richard looked up in thought _I need to fix aphelion, and Clank would be worried If I don't tell him first…..but…I want to_

After a while he got an idea and nodded "sure just let me check if my housemates back yet so I can tell him"

Scarlet nodded as they went to the door, Scarlet paused and grabbed her coat and boots again, even put the headphones round her neck out of habit.

Richard though ran to the run down house that he was staying at

"Clank!" he called in as the girls waited at the gate of Scarlet's house

"Yes Ratchet?" Clank spoke calmly as he came out of his hiding place holding his screen computer

"the girls want to take me to a pizza place…and" Ratchet trailed of unsure of how to continue without making it seem like he's abandoning his best friend

"I understand Ratchet…I will be fine" Clank smiled "I am still scanning aphelion to find the parts we will need to repair her" he explained

Ratchet smiled and nodded "I'll be back soon" he assured before closing the door.

Clank smiled and went back to work that he was doing all day, not only on repairing aphelion but trying to find out more about the ship in orbit and more on this planets cultures,

Richard ran back to the girls giving them the thumbs up as they started to walk, silent at first but soon got louder and louder til they were laughing and joking again, but not just on the games but on childish accidents they all had and about some silly things that happened recently. Richard though kept the fact that he was from veldin and other giveaways secret but still found things of common interest with them. Making him feel…..normal.

_Maybe….me and Clank can finally have that vacation we wanted…_


	5. another addition to the group

Scarlet woke up on Monday morning.

The previous Sunday was just her and Cassie as Richard said he had errands to run that day, but she found out what was wrong with his cooker… it was a gas one not an electric.

Scarlet laughed at the memory as she got up and dressed thankful that today was only a half day, which meant she had a whole afternoon to hang with both of them hopefully. After getting dressed and grabbing two bagels from the cupboard she rushed out of house to the run down one opposite, and knocked the door

"Richard? I got some breakfast, come on we're going to be late"

Ratchet was just sorting out his watch after getting the last of the fuel oil of his fur from his work yesterday, after they found out what was wrong with aphelion they found that they were in a dead-end until they can find somewhere to get the right parts to fix her.

When he heard the door knock he turned and went to the door after activating the watch and grabbing his backpack, which felt heavier than usual but he ignored it and went back to the door where Scarlet was waiting "hey scar"

"Morning Richard…you ready?"

Richard nodded as he close the door behind him after stepping out onto the porch taking the bagel that Scarlet held out before walking with her up the steep hill that led to the station

The two just chatted and talked as the late spring air warmed the ground with blossom petals carpeting the concrete under them, and the smell of spring flowers filling the air.

Summer was close, that meant summer vacation was close also and this made Scarlet smile, as it meant that not only will she have a new job to do, she'll also have a new friend to spend the summer with.

They carried on walking laughing at each other's jokes and stories, not noticing a purpled hair girl pass them running in the same direction.

They got onto the train ignoring Gordy's week day flirting for once and just carried on their way to college like it was a normal day.

But when they got there it was far from boring.

The usual gang of bullies blocked their way the leader Fredrick was waiting and ready for payback from last week the girl Nicole was hanging on his arm like a leech her scorning eyes directed straight to Scarlet.

Richard immediately stood in front of her protectively when Fredrick ordered his gang to "take them out"

The gang consisted of at least 9 boys all well-built and lazy-with-studies-types. 5 of which jumped Richard, which without his weapons or his wench got pinned to the wall too easily the other four approached Scarlet menacingly whilst cracking their knuckles with Fredrick in the lead "you owe me something dork" he sneered as he advanced getting closer to her as Richard tried to get out of the five boys hold on him. Fredrick looked at Richard smirking before laughing as he turned round "seems like this_**thing**_ has a friend" he laughed as two of the four grabbed Scarlet and held her still tightly.

Scarlet looked at him scared before screwing her eyes shut as he drew his fist back and threw it into her stomach knocking the wind out of her as the boys holding her dropped her as she fell to her knees holding her stomach gasping as Fredrick curled his fist for another punch…..

That never came, his fist was stopped by a girl much shorter and younger than him with long purple hair tied in a low ponytail her blue eyes looking at him annoyed shining against her pale skin,

"Leave them alone or else, and I won't warn you again" she warned sternly like she meant business

Fredrick only sneered at the girl "or else what kid? I'm at least twice the size of you so why should I care about your little warning?" he asked mockingly as he pulled away.

But to his surprise he couldn't pull his hand out of her hold as her gaze narrowed on him before moving quickly elbowing him sharply in the face breaking his nose,

As he stumbled holding his face he growled "get that girl!" he yelled pointing at her, obediently all 9 lackeys let go of Scarlet and Richard and advanced onto the purple haired girl, who didn't even flinch.

Instead what she did scared both Fredrick and Nicole, taking a deep breath she expertly attacked and took out all nine of the thugs in quick succession before standing straight over the beaten up and bloody pulps of the moaning and groaning boys as they started to crawl away as she glared at Fredrick, blood covering her shirt from the nosebleed and wounds she caused 11 seconds earlier

Fredrick stumbled at her glare before he and Nicole broke into a run and left them, Richard was crouching by Scarlet the whole time she fought, with one arm round Scarlet making her heart quicken and blush, before he helped her stand up "you ok scar?"

Scarlet nodded "yeah, I'm ok…thanks..." she turned to thank the girl but couldn't see her anywhere as she disappeared confusing the two before Richard just shrugged and led her to class worried that she would fall from the punch again.

He didn't know why but when he saw Fredrick punching her it made him want to kill the guy, maybe he just didn't want to lose another friend. Right now he was confused about why he felt so bad and let her sit down in the seat she was in the previous week and sat by her worried but looked to the front of the class as did she.

Scarlet recovered quickly after that, being used to those punches and pulled out both her notebook and sketchbook, thinking that today was going to be like any other and boring at that. As the day started the tutor came in and walked straight to the front with the purple haired girl, she has changed her shirt from when she stopped the bullies obviously cos of the blood on it.

Both Scarlet and Richard looked over surprised seeing her, the girl was wearing a dark magenta top with blue fang like markings on it with blue jeans and trainers underneath, the teacher cleared his throat getting the attention of the more restless students

"We have a new student here today, this is Mai Valshe, and don't let her young age fool you she is a lot smarter than others her age" he said smugly making a lot of students roll their eyes.

Scarlet smiled and waved slightly to her, when Mai spotted them she narrowed her eyes at Richard but smiled slightly as she was instructed to sit behind them.

Scarlet stood up and smiled at her "hey…thanks for earlier...Mai right?"

"Nothing to it, those boys should know better, and you are?"

"Oh I'm Scarlet Ruby and this is Richard"

Richard waved as he set his bag down on the floor but froze when he heard a familiar whirring coming from it; luckily Scarlet did not hear it and seemingly neither did this new girl.

Richard just sat down quickly turning away from them hiding his bag quickly as Scarlet and Mai sat down as class started, though once again after a few minutes the students attention started to wander Scarlet was drawing in her sketchbook again, this time black creatures with yellow eyes that looked creepy, and kept writing things like 'heartless soldier' next to the finished drawings,

Mai though kept staring at Richard as he took notes with speed but his thoughts were on more….pressing matters,

Finally it came to 12:30 the time they were dismissed, Scarlet stood up with Richard as they started to leave but wasn't in much of a rush this time

"Um…I kinda need the bathroom…mind waiting?" Richard asked embarrassed, but Scarlet only smiled and showed him over before waiting outside noticing Mai standing on the other side of the hall staring at her "you ok Mai?" she asked

Mai just nodded slowly not taking her eyes of the door, Scarlet shrugged and went to stand beside her, she knew how awkward and weird it looked for a girl waiting right next to the boys bathroom door.

Inside the bathroom Richard looked in all the stalls to make sure he was alone before putting his backpack down and opening it, to find why it was so heavy….Clank was inside

"Clank what are you doing?" he barely kept his voice above a whisper as he glared at his robotic companion

"I was concerned about how you spend your time here ratchet, and without anything to do I would be bored back home" he explained, or at least tried to

Ratchet just face palmed and groaned "too late to tell you to go home….just keep quiet alright?" he closed the backpack and swung the bag over before coming out of the bathroom seeing Scarlet waiting with Mai, with Mai still staring at him.

"Hey Richard" Scarlet greeted but Mai only stared

Richard walked up to the two girls and smiled at Scarlet, Mai only stared

Richard was getting nervous, but didn't let himself show it "ready to head back to Valakare?" he asked Scarlet nodded and walked with him as Mai followed making ratchet call back "hey, you heading our way?"

Mai nodded "I also live in Valakare, I believe I saw you on my way to this college" she stated simply

Ratchet nodded as all three of them started on their way home with Richard and Scarlet doing most of the talking and Mai putting a comment in every now and then acting very distant from them and still watched Richard with suspicious eyes worrying him and confusing Scarlet.

But Scarlet just shrugged it off and carried on walking, the journey back to their hometown was quiet between the three until they got off the train where Cassie was waiting with a grin

"Hey you two how's it going?" she chirped

"Hey Cassie" Scarlet greeted as she waved before getting glomped by her making Richard jump back so he wouldn't get dragged down with her

"Cassie…CASSIE I CANT BREATH!" Scarlet yelled trying to pry her of

Cassie just giggled before getting of her but looked at Mai "who's this girl?"

"Cassie this is Mai, Mai this is Cassandra lilac, but we just call her Cassie"

Mai just nodded in greeting "hello"

"Hi there" Cassie greeted with her usual smile and stood up "well where we headed?"

Scarlet looked down shyly thinking, it was after lunch time and she was sure the majority of them were hungry "how about the pizzeria?"

"Again?" Richard asked crossing his arms

"Best place to go for service and lunches round here" Scarlet admitted as she walked in that direction with Cassie

Richard just shrugged and followed with Mai behind him still staring at him. As if not trusting him at all.

It was about five minutes before they got to the restaurant –chatting the whole way- but when they got there Scarlet couldn't help but groan as standing by the entrance talking to Charlotte was Gordy.

Mai's eyes widen a little as if recognising the boy but he didn't show it much when he came up to them immediately glaring at Richard "yo babes"

"I wish you would stop calling me that" Scarlet glared back her shy and happy mood vanishing in an instant with annoyance and pushed him away as the four past him into the restaurant ignoring charlottes interested look in both Richard and Mai.

But neither of them noticed the look she had that could show anyone that she was planning experiments for them, but Mainly on Richard for his seemingly better built physique that might prove more useful for her tests in a way that he would be better built to survive them.

Anyway, back to the quartet…

Scarlet sat down at one of the tables in the pizzeria place with the others. The pizzeria was fairly modern looking with a sense of comfort, the floor was mahogany wood and the walls were peach with red leather seats in the booths and black marble tables, the lighting though was soft and pleasant, with the kitchen and restrooms in clear view. The restaurant itself was large and comprised of two floors, the top floor being half the size of the ground floor so it overlooked the entrance and the large clock fountain that lay just outside. Scarlet and the others sat on the first floor in one of the front booths in the corner, perfect spot to see the fountain and the sky at sunset as that spot showed the far of mountains that lined the city along with its large forest and ocean, but only when sitting at that table right next to the wall and the glass barrier could you see where the mountain gives way to jade manor in the far distance.

Scarlet stared at the river blue sky when she sat down not noticing Richard was sitting right next to her, or Cassie in front of her staring bug eyed at the menu of pizza's and ice cream, Mai though sat in front of Richard looking at him sternly but also was looking at the menu as her stomach called out for attention making Cassie giggle, but stifled it when Mai glared at her making Richard smile a bit,

Clank though was in Richards bag under the table looking around curious and taking in his surroundings and trying to learn as much about the planet and its inhabitants as he can from just watching and listening, most of the people there at the moment were teens and young adults, most of the female groups downstairs though were drooling and gushing over a white haired purple eyed boy who was with a group of his own but he seemed more interested in the blond girl with the bandage over her right eye who seemed more than happy to be with him, but clank noticed from the stares and awe that group was getting from the downstairs crow of teens that the group were most likely famous, but he remained silent so he wouldn't be spotted by on-lookers.

Scarlet snapped out of her train of thought and looked back to the menu she was holding looking over the pizzas in thought of price and size. "So…Anyone want anything in particular?"

"anything large is fine with me" Cassie beamed how she managed to eat so much pizza and not gain a single pound is anyone's guess, Scarlet just guessed its cos she has a high metabolism. Scarlet just nodded and looked at Mai and Richard as if asking them,

Mai just shrugged "don't really care as long as its edible" she stated not looking up from the menu

So Scarlet looked at Richard who just smiled "I'm alright with whatever" he smiled, making Scarlet blushed again

Seeing Scarlet blush made Richards heart quicken for a reason he didn't know, _why am I getting so flustered about this girl?_ He wondered, but he wasn't the only one who saw the blush, on the other table with Charlotte and George Harlequin, Charlotte's jokester of a brother. Was Gordy fuming, why was Scarlet was smiling with that _alien_ and not with him? What did he have that Gordy didn't? He had been asking himself these questions over and over til he just gave up asking.

Back at the table the waitress had come to take orders for the four. They started by ordering drinks, Scarlet asked for a diet coke Cassie though asked for the full fat version, Richard asked for a lemonade and Mai asked for a latte getting odd stares from the trio but Scarlet just shrugged and ordered a large garlic bread and dough balls as a starter for the four of them whilst they waited for the large pizza to come…..


	6. a lunch date gone south

**Ok so sorry its been sooo long since I updated this, college was so hectic that I couldn't even think on this, but now its all done I can freely think on my stories ^^**

**Oh, and fair warning theres a few spoilers in here for another of my stories, and the dancing blades stories too. **

**Ratchet and clank belong to insomniac**

**Jak and Daxter belong to naughty dog**

**Mai Valshe belongs to the dancing blade.**

**Ok well enjoy~ **

Gordy sat there watching the four talking and having a good time fuming like a volcano, just glaring at them in anger

_How she could not see it, that she's hanging round a grotesque weird, ALIEN _he pondered as he watched sitting by charlotte who was contemplating different tests to put Richard through,

Back at their table though the cheery atmosphere went from cheerful to just plain awkward as the four sat in silence after ordering a spicy pizza, when it finally came they each took a slice of it but when Richard took a bite of it his eyes instantly watered making him go for his drink before speaking again "whoa that's spicy and that had how many peppers on it two?"

Cassie, was the same but her slice had five, but what surprised both of them was that Mai and Scarlet were fine and Mai had ten peppers on hers whilst Scarlet had twenty

This made Richard look over to them both confused and surprised "doesn't that burn?"

"Nope" Mai stated plainly

"Not even a teensy bit?" Cassie asked surprised herself

"Nope I don't see any problem with it..." Scarlet replied this time oblivious to the spice she was eating

Richard mouth hung open a little in surprise looking over to her "wow" he mumbled.

They kept eating unknowing about Gordy's watchful eyes until they got to the last slice, when Gordy had enough.

He stood up and went over to the table and swiped it just before Mai grabbed it.

Sitting there in a shock Mai slowly looked at Gordy who just smirked "a moment in the mouth is a life time on the hips girly I though you knew that" he smirked about to eat it.

Scarlet facepalmed as ratchet sweatdropped at his action. Cassie looked as shocked as Mai was,

But Mai's expression went from shock to pure white hot anger. After a moment she shot up and raised a hand and hit him round the face HARD, before snatching the pizza slice and ate it "don't eat pizza you haven't paid for boy"

Gordy just stood there hand on his cheek with a gobsmacked expression on his face, that…..and a red handprint on his cheek.

The whole thing left Scarlet with a hand over her mouth trying not to burst out laughing in front of everyone, but even so her cheeks were warm and red with the held in laughter. Cassie on the other hand, just fell backwards of her chair in a fit of laughter.

But this snapped Gordy out of his paralyses and snap back at her "oooh big talk from a short kid, if all you can do is slap than you're just a weakling"

This was the final straw, if looks could kill, Mai would've vaporised Gordy then and there but instead fist clenched even with the pizza in it and with a furious snarl and a growl she launched herself at him swinging her fist aiming for his nose when she was stopped short by two stronger hands, one on her wrist, the other?

Pulling her ear back making her yell out in protest and pain, looking out of the corner of her eye she saw her captor. A tall boy around 18 with a very strong build was scowling at her, the boy had hazel brown eyes and copper red hair in a low pony tail reaching just under his shoulder blades, his chest was hidden by a black feudal styled top with a red lining with red archer gloves on his hands and normal blue jeans tied up over his black shoes, the most noticeable feature however was the scars on his face, on long one going down the right side over his eye under the fringe that was longer on that side, and the smaller on his left cheek.

Scarlet immediately stopped her laughter and sat straight up in nervousness, she knew this guy from the T.V his name…was Itzal Chou. Though Mai was obviously not happy.

"BROTHER LET ME GO WILL YA" she moaned with a few ow's at the end as Itzal pulled her further from a slack jawed Gordy

"And let you maul a pathetic punk? No way in haven, that's my job not yours Mai" he said bluntly with a small smirk.

Both Scarlet and Cassie stared amazed at how casually Mai was speaking to him, THE Itzal Chou, the towns third best combat racer and the best martial artist around and the middle child of the Chou clan, and she's calling him brother?

Finally Cassie spoke "are you….brother and sister?" she asked pointing slightly at Mai.

Both of them shot round though Mai immediately whimpered at Itzal still having his steel grip on her ear before they both yelled out "NO!"

This left Cassie confused leading her to ask another question "well then Mai… who's your real family?"

Richard took another sip of his drink listening to the whole thing, and even impressed slightly by Itzal's easy restraint of Mai's attack on Gordy.

Itzal though looked at Cassie like she was the stupidest person on the planet "pleeeaase tell me you didn't just ask that…" he groaned as Mai twisted herself free from him and launched at Cassie this time for a mauling, when out of nowhere a wooden walking stick was slammed down hard on her head making her crouch down holding and rubbing the stricken spot in pain with a small whimper.

Scarlet looked nervous and looked up when she heard and old croaky chuckle.

Looking up she saw an old man, hunched over slightly with slightly tanned skin, even though he was old he looked surprisingly well toned, his long grey hair in the same style as Itzal's but longer with no fringe, his dark almost black brown eyes watched Mai's actions with a fatherly look as he walked over in his simple beige polo shirt and brown trousers and grey shoes.

"Now, now young Valshe, no hitting the idiots you know that" he chuckled waving his stick at her slightly as she glared over at him.

"oh come on Gramps I wasn't even gonna hurt her that much" she protested

The man just chuckled again "and I'll say again, no it is not your duty to harm the innocent even though they seem naïve" the man walked over to Itzal who bowed a little

"thanks grandfather" he murmured to him quietly as they both started to leave but not before Itzal turned back to her "Mai…me and my grandfather can no longer keep a leash on you anymore keep that in mind ok?" he said to her as if giving her a warning to be careful but somehow had a second meaning to it that only Mai got as she immediately calmed down and nodded to him

"Yeah….I knows…take care on the track brother"

"We will…don't worry…" he chuckled and left waving behind him as she sat back down

Scarlet was first to speak "I didn't realise you were close to the E.C racing team Mai"

Mai simply shrugged barely "I kinda grew up with him Kosuke Erin and grandpa Kasuke….nothing special" she stated taking another gulp of her coffee.

Richard though was intrigued and looked to Scarlet "E.C?"

"Eco combat…dunno why they chose that name…but they are the Main combat racing team here in Valakare. Itzal's third in command behind Hannah nova and rick starlight"

"Ah, alright" Richard concluded deciding it was best not to pry further

Clank though was already searching his data banks for the info on what had transpired and overheard.

After a few minutes of silence Cassie decided to go pay for the pizzas as the other three got ready to go, with Mai heading to the bathroom quickly.

After paying for the pizzas and dodging another incident with Gordy the four head back to Richards and Scarlet's houses. Dropping Cassie of at her parents place by the town centre as she said she had a tonne of homework to do but would be over later to hang.

Waving behind her Scarlet, Richard and Mai carried on until they got to their homes, Scarlet was just about to go into her house with Richard when Mai called him "Richard…may I have a word"

Richard simply nodded and looked back at Scarlet "I'll be there in a few minutes ok?"

Scarlet simply nodded shyly and went to her door giving a quick glance to them before shutting the door but went up to the first floors window just above her front door, sadly they were speaking in hushed yells by this time and she couldn't lip read nor tell what they were talking about but it looked like Richard was panicking and Mai looked annoyed at his behaviour.

Scarlet, started to worry as she watched them go inside Richards home where all the muffled noises just ceased. She waited for about ten minutes before sighing and went down to the living room, turning the T.V on and watched her cartoons waiting for them, but after an hour, only Cassie came to hang out. Not in the mood for games anymore Scarlet just watched as Cassie played one of her other consoles and kept waiting,

Until she went to bed at midnight.


	7. depression to happiness

**Ok two chapters in one day…how rare is that? **

**Anyway its short cos I want to get the depressing part out of the way before the real chaos commences ^^ oh and blame the dancing blade for some of ratchets behaviour, she gave me the ideas ^^;**

It had been one week since Richard and Mai had that argument outside of his temporary home. And since then ratchet had been running up and down the town like a headless chicken, looking for a young girl that Mai said was her sister, as well as trying to repair his ship, all the while having to deal with Mais now apparent harsh nature.

But this chance at getting the equipment had a downside. That whole week he had been sitting with Mai in class and walk with her after wards, leaving Scarlet alone the whole time.

It was the Friday after when Scarlet was heading to class head hung sadly as she half-heartedly took notes in class. Richard and Mai whispering away in the row above her in the lecture hall. Her thoughts immediately going to the possibility that they her making fun of her, and thus causing her heart to sink farther. Not even Cassie could bring her out of her obvious depression, not even with her Daxter impressions that she was so good at. It was 5 minutes til the end of class and there was barely half a page of notes in her book, and this was her best subject, art and animation. Giving a final sigh she packed her bag with only her notebook inside, passing Richard and Mai on her way not even glancing over to them as she passed. Head hung low and bag just barely on her shoulder. Her eyes were red with the crying she did in the bathroom after being beaten again.

She just kept walking ignoring the others mocking calls to her, she even tried to ignore the running footsteps over to her from behind when someone grabbed her arm and swung round trying to use her as a shield for someone.

Looking up, she saw it was Richard. Panting and sweating looking exhausted as if he hadn't slept the entire week.

"Oh…Richard…." She started before looking back down "hey…"

"No time for formalities scar… just keep that evil thing away from me!" he hid behind her more pointing behind her.

Looking confused Scarlet hesitantly looked behind her and sighed.

It was only Mai holding a spray bottle pointed at them, looking more than a little annoyed. "Come on Richard, don't make me spray you again, I thought we were going to look for my sister more today?"

"WE'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR HER THIS WHOLE WEEK, AND I WANT A BREAK!" Richard yelled back annoyed.

Scarlet sighed, finding herself in the middle of what was looking like a master-slave situation, and just stood to one side beginning to leave not wanting to be involved if a fight broke out and she was stuck in the middle of it and losing…_never mind losing it…I never really had they're friendship to begin with…_

She was about to leave them when Richard grabbed her arm with both hands looking at her pleadingly "don't go please, she's torture" he moaned with big puppy dog eyes. But froze when Mai's voice was heard again

"oh Richard~" she said in an sing song voice with mischievous intent holding the bottle up threatenly making Richard take a step away from her

Scarlet, although confused sighed seeing no way out of this and spoke up. Sadness clear in her voice "Mai….maybe…its best to give him some time…to relax? He isn't your servant after all" she asked gently looking down. But what she said somehow made Mai freeze looking confused "but…he's my kitty..."

That sentence made Richard cringe and somehow that made Scarlet a little angry,

"Kitty?"

"Yes, kitty, he's my kitty~" Mai cooed getting a cat like smile

Scarlet hung her head down a bit before speaking though somehow her depressed aura seemed to alter to a more angry one slightly "are….are you two dating?"

That sentence made them both jump and yell in protest "NO, NO WAY ON EARTH NO!" they both yelled in unison.

Scarlet's anger seemed to dub down with that protest making her look up in confusion as Mai spoke again

"I would…never…date….him" she pointed out clearly disgusted by the thought

Richard nodded "same here"

Scarlet sighed again "then don't boss him around calling him your kitty Mai…or people will think that…" she turned to leave again still sad, but not as sad as she was,

Mai was about to protest when another cat passed and caught her eye making her watch it with big eyes for a few moments before composing herself clearing her throat "alright…I guess we can take a break from searching…"

Richard literally melted with relief leaning on Scarlet a bit as Mai spoke again "so…pizza?"

Scarlet shook her head "sorry… I'm gonna have to skip it this time… I'm meeting Cassie somewhere else for lunch…" she turned again, and this time actually left them in the corridor, for about 3 minutes before they started to follow her back to Valakare.

But not a word was said between the three. Giving an air of uncomfortable silence, until Richard went next to Scarlet, leaving Mai in the back of them. "hey…look…I'm seriously sorry about not being able to hang with you scar… if there's any way I can make it up to you at all…just say"

Scarlet didn't say anything, but she did nod to show she heard. And sighed again "probably not tonight though… I've got a sleepover with Cassie for this weekend"

"A sleepover? Can I come?" Mai spoke up asking like a little girl would ask for a cookie.

Scarlet looked behind her and nodded after a few moments "alright…I guess you can join in…" she said quietly not really sure herself not knowing her as well as Richard.

Richard smiled a little and looked at Scarlet and rubbed the back of his neck "maybe I could come, but…stay in another room?" he asked trying to make it sound decent that he wouldn't try to do anything indecent.

Scarlet immediately blushed and looked down, making Richard previous hopeful smile fall and look down himself "I know stupid idea never mind" he said in complete embarrassment before Scarlet spoke up again "n-no…it's a good idea…it's just…I never expected you to ask…to come to a girls sleepover…" she said, not realising that they passed Gordy on their way who heard every word and was now stomping down the road fuming so much his ears were practically smoking.

After a while they stopped at a forked road. Mai was already heading down the left road as Scarlet and Richard took the right in a sort of comfortable yet strange silence. Until they reached their final destination "well...I guess I'll be seeing you around?" Richard asked as he turned

"Maybe…tonight even? Is…six o'clock alright for you to come over?" Scarlet asked shyly with a small smile

If he wasn't facing away Scarlet would have seen his bright red blush with a goofy smile "y-yeah…sure…see you later then" and with that he left into his house

Scarlet's heart was pounding but she had a small smile playing on her lips as she spoke quietly "see you later then Richard…" and she left into her own house immediately picking up the house phone to tell Cassie to bring some extra food and drinks for tonight.


	8. the hype before night

When Scarlet got home she immediately went to her phone and called Cassie who herself just got out of class, and was now heading to her house "yo scar! What's up?" she answered making Scarlet giggle as she sounded like she had food in her mouth as she said that

"Hey Cassie, um, we've got a few more guests coming over tonight for the sleepover think you could get some extra snacks?"

"sure no problem Scarlet, I'll be happy to get more of the munchies for tonight" she laughed and hung up without waiting for Scarlet to say goodbye which she was used to already, they both knew each other since they were both 5 so they knew what the other one liked and disliked.

As Cassie went to the local store to get the snacks and drinks Scarlet went on a cleaning spree, trying to get her house presentable, Mainly her living room and guest room for Richard.

As she cleaned though, on the other side of the road in the run down house there was a small robot pacing shaking his head in annoyance "you know your watch is solar powered Ratchet, so why did you agree to participate in her night time activity?"

The Lombax in disguise sighed as he sat on the patched up couch in the dreary room. "Clank we both know Mai has been running me up and down the town the past week so I haven't been able to talk to Scarlet much and well… this seemed like the best idea to pay her back for ignoring her the past week." He explained

Clank though just sighed and shook his head in defeat once Ratchet has his mind made up there's no changing it.

So he just went over to the backpack Ratchet used for the college class he was hiding in, and took out a gadget of some sort and opened it up to show it was a high tech note pad and started to write some things on it and looked over some files.

All the while Ratchet had turned on the almost busted Television set, and changed over to a random channel to pass the time, the channel though was showing the local sport a combat race of sorts. With a rider narrowly evading oncoming rockets on a turn and was coming to the home stretch.

Ratchet looked interested and leant forward as if trying to see the screen better; the rider was almost at the line when…

The screen went static for a second before showing a young 14 year old girl's face yelling loudly "RATCHET!" Ratchet jumped back and fell of the back of his seat landing behind it so only his feet and tuft tail were seen from behind it.

After a few groans and moans Ratchet actually managed to climb out from behind the sofa and glared at the TV "what was that for Mai?"

"Just saying hi Ratchet, kinda cool that I can hack TV's huh?" she giggled like it was no big deal

"Yeah just don't do that round Scarlet's ok?"

"Why not?" she pouted at him making Ratchet pull a weirded out face

"Cos I don't think she would appreciate it for one, and how will hacking her TV help you find her?" he pointed out making Mai's expression darken a little looking down

"Quit being a bad friend Ratchet or I will tell her"

That was something that pushed him over the edge "I'm the bad friend? You made me run round the city for a week with no food, no water and no rest! And you believe I'M the bad friend? Sometimes I wonder how you even HAVE ANY if you do at all?!" he almost yelled at her making clank glance over a bit worried and sighed as Mai immediately showed a look of pure anger and insulted

Hearing his angered statement pushed her over the edge making her rant in fluent Spanish, but too fast to translate it

"_Usted animal estúpido! Dilo de nuevo y voy a rasgar sus ojos, junto con sus órganos, y hacer que se los comen! Entonces voy a la piel por una alfombra nueva y!" _

After deciding to give up making out what she was trying to say Ratchet just turned the TV of and went to his room and laid down on his bed staring up to the ceiling.

All the while Scarlet had been setting the house up with Cassie placing pillows in the living room in front of the sofa and preparing the snacks into bowls after Scarlet ordered three meat lovers pizzas and a tub of ice cream.

After they were all set Scarlet's front doorbell rang, going to open it Scarlet jumped back as a golden brown blur of hair and cloths rushed in yelling into the house immediately using Scarlet as a shield from the angry mad purple haired girl yelling in Spanish waving a spray bottle around.

But that's not what got Scarlet tense and annoyed, no it was who was behind her that got her attention behind her was a bored looking Gordy wearing his jacket as normal but something about his right sleeve looked wrong, it looked like there was a lump on it, but that wasn't the only difference, there was also a deep red imprint of a flyswatter on his face which seemed to belong to the one in Mai's other hand.

Scarlet looked behind to Richard who was hiding behind her "what is she saying?" she asked trying to ignore Gordy who answered instead

"don't ask you don't want to know…oi Mai there's no need for that!" he yelped at her as she ranted resulting in her slapping him in the face again with the swatter making him stand there surprised and shocked

"Look Gordy I didn't, wait you can understand her?"

"More or less," he shrugged "spent three months in Spain, not much to brag about"

Cassie who only just saw Gordy as she got to the doorway gasped "oh so that's where you were, I thought you died" she stated with a giggle making Gordy and nearly Richard facepalm

_She's almost as dumb as Qwark _Richard thought as he looked to her Scarlet though had a different reaction as she looked away and mumbled so almost no one could hear "I kinda wished you were"

Gordy though didn't hear but was more focused on Mai who was preparing to strike him again making him grab the swatter and pull it from her hand, and being taller than her held it out of her reach so she could not get to it until she finally just sighed and went in head hung with a pout.

"Before you ask ruby, he wasn't taking no for an answer to coming here" she stated as she past making Scarlet sigh in annoyance

_He's gonna make everything awkward now._ She thought as she watched him come in and grinned at her "hey babe"

Scarlet though glared and pushed him as Richard headed to the living room with the girls "just go in, sit down and don't talk to me Gordy I'm not in the mood for your flirting and sexist stereotyping"

"What? Afraid I'll make fun of your girly movies?" he smirked making Scarlet literally growl and slap him

"I DON'T watch those!"

Gordy though holding his cheek just laugh and stood up "can't take a joke huh?"

"listen here you… wait huh?" she suddenly sounded confused, his tone just now was not the one he used to flirt with her normally, it sounded more, well…

Friendly

"I meant it as a joke, I didn't exactly come here to fight you or that weird guy miss purple hair there was yelling at"

"Her names Mai"

"Yeah, yeah" he waved of and went into the living room glaring at Richard as he did leaving Scarlet in the hallway now more stressed than ever.

This was certainly gonna be an interesting sleep over.


	9. getting settled

"Hey no fair! I had my eyes closed!" Cassie yelled as she died for the fourth time in a row on all 4 one,

"Hey not my fault you didn't keep an eye on your ammo Cassie" Mai chided as she chugged her 4th gallon of coffee.

The group had decided to play Ratchet and Clank all 4 one whilst waiting for pizza, although Gordy had chosen not to play as he leant against the wall at the back of the living room watching in shock and surprise as he saw Nefarious on screen, having never played one single platform game.

Mai was the one playing Dr. Nefarious with a large grin at every time she killed a robot minion; Cassie on the other hand had chosen Captain Qwark as Ratchet and Clank were already picked by Richard and Scarlet.

Cassie kept pouting over the fact that the Z'grute had knocked her out again for a fifth time already leaving the others to defeat it on their own, Scarlet's nervousness had gone down after they started playing as they all started to laugh and joke around during cut scenes and were generally just having a good time, although Richard did seem nervous about something as well as being embarrassed about playing as Ratchet.

As they played Gordy just glared at the screen watching Nefarious especially '_so….this means that what the boss bot told me, that the….alien…..Ratchet…was the bad guy here….was a lie? And I'm working for the villain?!...' _he sighed and looked down with his arms crossed, during that week he had been hauling boxes and high tech equipment around the warehouse, watching the egg headed robot repair some kind of other robot, a female one.

But whenever he asked what Nefarious was doing he always got sent to do some other chore. He was starting to feel like some slave. Even put some weird ring on his arm that was hidden under his jacket, But now that he knows he wasn't about to let himself do anymore grunt work.

His train of though was disrupted though when the doorbell rang, making him jump looking over to the door as Scarlet paused the game "I'll get it" she smiled as she got up and went out of the room.

After she left Richard visibly relaxed making Gordy curious but Cassie spoke before he could "so why are you so nervous for rich? "

"n-no reason" he rubbed the back of his head Mai and Cassie both smirking at the reaction as Mai turned the game of and turned the TV over to the races that were on .

The races though weren't like normal car or bike races as they appeared to be more destructive with rockets and boosts, combat racing was what It was called the girl being focused on right now on the screen though had long brown hair with black end wearing a race suit that was more like a swimsuit as well as goggles hiding her eyes and armour. The bottom of the screen read her title "circuits flame?" Richard had read aloud

"its Hannah Nova's title as a racer, she's the leader of the local AND official Valakare combat race team, the E.C. " Cassie explained with a giggle as Scarlet had come back after paying for the pizza's holding the box's and a tub of ice cream with surprising skill.

"dinners here!" she called cheerfully setting the boxes on the coffee table as Cassie left to get the plates dishing out the pizza evenly between the five of them they carried on watching the races and joking around, Cassie Mainly did her impressions and the others had to guessed them, Richard almost fell of his seat when she did monkey movements imitating Qwarks voice

"Ha-ha, Cassie you always manage to make us laugh with that one" Scarlet laughed out her eyes watering from laughing. For some reason though seeing her so happy made Richards cheeks feel warm. But he paid it no mind, most likely from the laughter after all.

"So, anyone got any ideas for later?" Scarlet asked looking at the others

"How about ghost stories?" Cassie giggled

Mai though upon hearing the suggestion had a twisted thin grin playing on her face with an evil gleam in her eye making both Scarlet and ratchet a bit nervous, Gordy though didn't pay it any mind and Cassie didn't even see it

"I'm game~" Mai smiled

Scarlet nodded slowly "I…never really told a ghost story, but I'll try to" she looked down bringing her shoulders up as she sat there.

"sure I could do with a laugh" Gordy pretty much challenged them as Cassie cheered put, Richard though knew he wasn't getting out of this even with Clank Hiding in his backpack having watched the entire thing since they got there.

Scarlet had gotten up and went to the bathroom as Mai got everything ready for the story telling smirking evilly at Gordy knowing she would probably scare him with her story. When Scarlet came back everyone was sitting in a circle with a lamp providing the only light source, the guys sat on the large pillows she put down earlier with a space between Richard and Cassie for her, with Gordy between her and Mai, Mai though was on the other side of Richard, Scarlet came over and laid on the pillow stomach first as did the others and looked round "so…who goes first?"

Cassie giggled and smiled "I'll start, just to get us into it" she offered as Mai shrugged and Scarlet nodded, letting Cassie start. Although she did her best to make it sound scary she didn't really get anyone scared and Mai even looked bored when Cassie finished.

"Nice try Cassie, but maybe next time don't make it child friendly ok?" Mai informed making Cassie sweatdrop a bit.

"Well you think you can do better then?" Gordy challenged with a smirk, making Mai smirk evilly back

"in my sleep boy" she stated and started telling her story, she went into a lot of detail making Cassie's face pale and Gordy was starting to look green in the face, Scarlet was shaking a bit as Richard wasn't even fazed, Mainly cos his mind was on other things, his watch was starting to run low on power, and if he didn't charge it up soon it was gonna be problematic, and Clank knew that as well as he listened also, but was getting disturbed by Mai's story, she was getting close to the end when Scarlet yelped and jumped up making everyone flinch

"Scarlet you ok?" Cassie asked as she sat up as it was clear that Mai's story wouldn't be finished tonight.

"y-yeah I'm fine, j-just that I felt something brush against my leg" Scarlet stuttered as she shook looking behind her not seeing anything, though Richard looked worried knowing exactly what it was, his tail was out but thankfully it was too dark to see it and he could hide it fairly well until he could get to the guest room, he just hoped Gordy wasn't staying the night.

Cassie was calming Scarlet down a bit as Mai got up to turn the light on deciding that was enough scary stories or now, thankfully Richard hid his tail in time, though Mai did spot him hiding it, she was about to suggest something else when someone's mobile beeped. It was Gordy's, he sighed getting it out and had a look as it was a text making him groan and put his phone away "gotta go, my…._boss_ wants to see me" he stated getting up and leaving "thanks for the food though" he left as Mai watched him leave as if she was in thought. Richard sighed quietly in relief before making a fake yawn excusing himself and asking Scarlet for directions to the guest room,

Scarlet nodded and pointed to it as it was at the foot of the stairs. Richard nodded thanks before grabbing the backpack with Clank in it rushing into the room as his hologuise finally shut down exposing himself as what he was, '_looks like I need to just hope the girls don't come in here til morning'_ he thought in worry staring at the door he had just closed whilst still holding the handle hearing the girls chat as they passed the room into Scarlet's room,

It was going to be a long night.


	10. a scary drive

**Ok we all know the drill by now, 2 reviews before I post the next chapter,**

**I don't own ratchet and clank or anything in the franchise, nor do I own the valshes, they belong to the dancing blade **

The night was going past peacefully, the girls were all in Scarlet's room as ratchet stayed in the guest room with the door shut, tinkering away at one of his gadgets to keep his mind of the problem at hand. The room itself was fairly large, with a double bed and TV on the wall it looked like it was made for guests to be more comfortable, though oddly enough Ratchet just couldn't keep his mind of Scarlet, and how guilty he felt having to use her in a way and having to hide what he was to her,

But he knew he couldn't tell her or show her, it was bad enough the girl Mai Valshe found out about him, but she kept it quiet at least, but with Scarlet, for some reason he just couldn't bare the thought. Sighing he set the gadget down as clank climbed out of the back pack and onto the bed,

"Ratchet? Is everything alright?" the small robot asked clearly concerned for his close friend

"Yeah clank I'm fine, just….the sooner we can get aphelion fixed the better," he covered with a sigh looking out the window to the sky above, thinking about how things were going back home, with the gang,

With a larger sigh the Lombax simply laid down on the bed and drifted of staring at the half moon in the clear starry sky, sleeping soundly until the light of the spring dawn came again.

Scarlet woke first in that morning stretching the limited amount of sleep out of her body from the previous night's antics. Mai decided to prank Cassie in a way that she almost scared the pink hair dye of her head, thinking back on that moment almost made Scarlet giggle if it wasn't for the fact that she didn't want to wake anyone yet, so carefully getting up she crept over the pillow pile that they slept on and headed for the door silently opening and closing the door, before tip toeing to the bathroom quickly,

Once her personal business was done she crept out again but froze, hearing a whirring of gears that did not belong to any of her house hold items, holding her breath she peaked out of the bathroom just in time to see the guest room door shut, sighing and thinking it was probably Richard she walked out and headed downstairs to the kitchen starting on making some breakfast.

It was about ten minutes before the smell of cooking bacon, fresh coffee and eggs were wafting into the two bedrooms waking Cassie, Mai, Clank and Ratchet, clank being awoken by Ratchet shifting and knocking a book that was on the bed onto the poor robots head during his sleep mode.

Making sure it was charged Ratchet quickly put his hologuise watch on making him look like a shirtless Richard as he headed down to the kitchen where Cassie and mai were waiting at the foot of the stairs, mai Glaring at Cassie and Cassie being herself pulling an embarrassed smile

"I said I was sorry Mai"

"You kicked me in the chin pinkie" she growled

"Alright you two, remember we're guests" Richard interjected while yawning half asleep still, earning a pout from Mai and a sigh of relief from Cassie as they went into the kitchen together seeing that Scarlet was cooking a decent breakfast,

Richard raised a brow when he saw a plate of brown cookies in the middle of the table, with what looked like sugar dusted on the top, Cassie though squealed and grabbed one nomming it before blinking at Richards and Mai's odd looks at her

"What? I have a big sweet tooth, and Scarlet's mocha cookies are the best!" she cheered taking another bite with a grin.

The word mocha though peaked Mai's interest as she proceeded to take one of the cookies for herself and took a bite, immediately humming in pleasure and earning a smile from Scarlet who heard every word before she spoke up "I made some fresh coffee for you mai, its in the flask" she mentioned as she pointed to the coffee maker which was of course full of fresh coffee with a two mugs next to it

"I also made you some too Richard, that is…if you drink coffee, I didn't know if you do or not" she chuckled nervously turning the heat of and dishing out the eggs and bacon evenly between the three of them,

The way she did so made Richard blush again as he chuckled slightly nervous himself "thanks Scar," he replied as he took his own coffee away just in time to avoid Mai pouncing on the flask "are you addicted to coffee or something Mai?" he asked but just got a hiss from her as a reply, making him pull an embarrassed face.

As they started to eat their own meals Scarlet started suggesting things for them all to do, Cassie suggested the beach but all agreed that it was still too cold to go to the Valakare beach as the water wouldn't be warm enough til the summer break, Mai suggested the library which Cassie immediately moaned about saying that it was Saturday in other words to her 'no work day', Richard though of course had no idea on what to do, not knowing about the city that well,

In the end it was Scarlet that made the plan, her suggestion…. Ice skating at the local ice rink and sports centre. Mai didn't look that thrilled about it but saw she was out numbered here so kept quiet.

After picking up some warmer cloths from their own homes they met up at Mais home, or rather her MANSION. The building was large with the latest security features keeping nosy people away, the walls of the building were a pleasant white as the slanted roofs were a complementary brown, the front garden was well cared for with dark green grass and a couple of cherry trees with black laces near the building itself. The whole property sealed away by a tall black fence and gate.

As the guys approached the building they saw the gate was actually open but loud yelling could be heard inside, the yelling seemingly belonging to Mai yelling incoherent words in Spanish before the black oak door swung open as a familiar figure of Gordy was thrown out onto his back with Mai and an older womanly figure both walking out, well Mai stomped out looking ticked whilst the older woman simply giggled as she came out,

"AND STAY OUT YOU! WHY DID YOU EVEN LET THIS MORON IN!?" she yelled turning to the woman.

This woman though had short copper hair shaping her face elegantly in a v cut style ending just below her ears and well-kept fringe, her aqua blue eyes seemed to shine against her pale skin which matched Mai's own, but unlike Mai she was fairly taller and more shapely as a female, wearing a flattering black business suit, and a dark navy undershirt, black heeled boots helping her height along with a white fedora on her head.

Her voice was mature but had a more subtle Spanish accent compared to Mai's own, "well I thought he was your boyfriend after all mai"

This made mai's eyes widen as she kept yelling at her "WHY WOULD YOU EVEN THINK THAT?!" she almost screamed at her, which oddly made her aunt chuckle,

"well he was talking about you earlier Mai, and besides I already invited him to come with us" she replied calmly and smoothly as Gordy slowly stumbled back to his feet

"YOU DID WHAT!?" both Mai and Scarlet screamed in unison making Richard and the woman jump

"YOU CANT BE SERIOUS AUNT CLARA, THAT MORON"

"is very nice one you get to know him" the woman now Clara interrupted, before walking over to the seven seated car, mai though was clearly fuming and was struggling not to scream, whilst Scarlet had her hands clenched into fists and started to walk to the car dodging Gordy when he went to flirt with her, making Gordy once again glare as Richard as he passed, making Richard confused again,

Gordy turned back to Scarlet as they all got in but before he spoke Scarlet had shut the door on him sitting on the window seat with Cassie on the opposite side and Richard in the middle, Gordy stood at the window and moaned "come on babe, you know that-" he as well got intrupted as mai immediately pushed him into the back seat in the boot "just get in and shut up" she snapped before getting into the shot gun seat with her aunt shutting the door and doing her seat belt quickly, as clara did the same and started the car,

"alright buckle up sit forward, and pray" she smirked making the already buckled group look nervous and confused

"um…Mai why do we need to pray?" Cassie asked immediately regretting it as Clara got ready to go, and she drove out of the drive insanely fast.

Mai had her head down quietly muttering something like a prayer with her eyes shut, as the others screamed as they held on, Cassie screamed for help and calling Clara insane,

Scarlet was holding onto the arm rest when a tight corner threw her into Richards's side as she let go making Richard blush but shook his head in panic "I'M SURE YOUR BREAKING A FEW LAWS HERE!"

Clara though just laughed as she kept driving at a blazing speed surprisingly though missing everything that she could've ran into,

After ten life scarring minutes she slammed the breaks on, stopping squarely at a parking space in front of the ice rink and sports centre. "last stop everyone out" she laughed as she turned the engine of, everyone of course rushed out, Gordy fell out face first panting on his hands and knees from fear, Cassie ran to the bushes feeling ill, whilst Scarlet got out shaking and knelt over as she panted, only Richard and Mai got out like it was nothing, though Richard did look traumatised "your aunts insane"

This made Clara smirk as she looked over "I can always pick you up later" she chuckled earning the whole group to yell a distinctive NO at her, making her chuckle and getting back in the car to drive away at the same speed, leaving the group to their Saturday.


	11. icy events

**Twice in a day is rare I know but I was with my mate when I wrote this so she helped there XD**

**Anyway I don't own ratchet or clank, or the Valshe's **

At the ice rink the guys were all sorting out entry fees, which surprisingly both Mai and Scarlet got a discount on, apparently Mai came from an important family, and Scarlet came here a lot, she even had her own skates that she was now putting on, her skates being similar to her roller skates, Mai was putting on her own skates with a pout, her skates being Siam-a dark red- with black laces, Cassie's own skates being pink with a blue candy wrapper on the heel, with stripped laces, with Gordy and Richard having to borrow a pair from the centre, Gordy's being a plain black with a sport symbol on the toe and Richards own being white with no pattern.

Once their skates were on and secure they moved over to the massive ice rink was situated, although Mai, Gordy and Richard had trouble walking in the skates whereas Cassie was a little better, but Scarlet was showing to be the most used to it, as she was on the ice first, being greeted by a couple of the other skaters, one having black hair with blue ends, spiked up in a single spike on one side and the rest covering her right eye, "hey scar"

"hi luna" Scarlet waved back as she skated of, Scarlet though stayed with her group as they looked at her confused "oh…um…Luna was the one who taught me to skate,"

"but she's the towns figure skating champion! And she just came out of a coma!" Cassie yelled, apparently knowing all of the famous faces in the city but made Scarlet's face red with a blush, as Richard looked at her surprised. "any other talents we need to know about?" Mai bluntly asked crossing her arms, not liking the cold building at all,

Scarlet scratched her neck sheepishly "um…I'm…good on the violin….." she answered before earning a laugh from Cassie who promptly pushed her and Gordy onto the ice.

After they were on the ice Richard approached it himself, '_alright ratchet you can do this, can't be much harder than those death courses right?'_ he thought to himself placing one skate on the ice, and immediately did the splits briefly trying to get his balance before slipping landing on his face. Grabbing the side he slowly pulled himself back up with a pained groan, '_ok that was a mistake, its much harder_' he thought in annoyance before seeing that Mai was refusing to get on the ice, sighing he decided to help

"no way" she protested

"Mai last chance"

"No!"

This earned Richard to sigh and called out "oi Gordy!"

"alright, alright I'm going" Mai growled and skated out holding onto the barrier,

Scarlet though skated up to where Richard was trying to stay standing, "are you alright here Richard?" she asked kindly with a smile, showing how much she was enjoying herself,

Richard though blushed a bit "um y-yeah I'm fine" he chuckled sheepishly but yelped when his foot slipped making him fall onto his back again,

Scarlet jumped and cringed seeing him fall but giggled a bit holding her hand out "haven't ice skated before?"

Richard chuckled embarrassed before taking her hand "you could say that" he admitted as she helped him up, but oddly she didn't let go of his hand

"want me to help you get used to it?" she offered showing why she was still holding his hand, was to help steady him,

Richard blushed more but again he felt confused to it, before putting it to being offered help by someone close to his age, before nodding "alright I guess some pointers wouldn't hurt" he accepted making Scarlet smile more albeit shyly as she started leading him out and started to slowly skate with him, at first he kept slipping threatening to fall almost several times if Scarlet didn't keep holding his hand, but after a while he got the hang of it and was starting to skate quite well with her, glancing over to see Mai wasn't much of a skater either flailing about as Gordy surprisingly was trying to help her, having oddly not even tried to flirt with Scarlet at all, although he did try when they were doing their shoes, Cassie though was simply goofing off skating backwards.

After about 3 hours of skating and having fun the gang skated of the ring before ice hockey practice began, going to the local café next to the ring, having some lunch whilst joking about though Gordy did kept getting punched in the face when he tried to flirt with Scarlet, by either her or by Mai. Cassie almost fell of her seat a couple of times due to her laughing fits,

It took ten minutes before they all calmed down before beginning to just chat, talking about al sorts of things, from music to games to upcoming events, Gordy and Cassie did tease about Mai's falling a bit though

Whilst they were talking with Richards backpack holding clank inside next to his chair, he couldn't help but feel a mix of happiness, as well as guilt.

Happiness for finally being able to go somewhere for as long as he has been here and not having to shoot anything, but also guilt for having to lie to everyone at this table besides Mai and clank about his species. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed that Cassie's and Gordy's teasing was starting to upset Mai

"guys cut it out you two fell a lot more than she did when you first got on the ice so leave her alone!" Scarlet almost shouting having being stood up in frustration

Cassie though pouted when Scarlet snapped at her "come on Scarlet it's only teasing, not like we were hurting her"

"you were, you don't realise miss Valshe is still a child" a voice interjected, making them turn to see Itzal Chou again in warmer clothing looking annoyed at Cassie before going to Mai who was now crying and hiccupping, stroking her head a bit "hey, you ok Mai?" he asked in a fatherly tone, earning a whimper but a nod from her, making him sigh "good, your aunt asked me to pick you guys up, but don't worry I'm not as bad as her"

"Of course not! Your Itzal Chou the second child of the Chou line and a member of the Eco Combat racing team" Cassie cheered clapping her hands together in glee making Scarlet sweatdrop and Richard to shake his head embarrassed.

Itzal simply sighed and helped Mai stand up, Cassie was about to stand up but had her foot caught in the chair causing her to fall over comically onto the floor. Making her pout "ouch"

The whole thing made Mai crack a small smile, along with the others who went on to start laughing, before starting on their way back to Mai's home, but once they got there they were just in time to see a long black limo pull away with a police escort,

Scarlet watched the limo leave as Itzal led Mai back to clara who was standing there waiting, "welcome ba- WHY IS SHE CRYING" she yelled in shock making Cassie and Gordy hide behind the fence

"WHO DID IT? OUT WITH IT, NOW! I'LL LOCK YOU UP IN MY CAR AND DRIVE IF YOU DON'T SPEAK UP NOW!" she threatened making Scarlet look scared before speaking up

"I'm afraid cassies and Gordy's teasing got out of hand miss" she explained calmly making the two freeze in fear of the consequences they were about to be dealt with, as Clara proceeded to call them forward in anger.

Richard decided now was the time to leave, grabbing Scarlet's hand gently and started to pull her back to her home to let Clara deal with them herself, making Scarlet blush the whole way home, not realising that they were both being watched from the shadows, by a pair of red eyes.


	12. Mocha cookie mayhem

**Ok this one took a while for me to sort out, and be warned there's a bit of feels in here, sorry it's a short chapter this time, the next chapters gonna be longer and more fun…hopefully, as normal I won't post or even start til I get two reviews here, even if it's an idea or something, **

**I only own Valakare , scarlet, Gordy and Cassie**

**Ratchet and clank belongs to insomniac**

**And Mai Valshe belongs to the dancing blade**

It was a few hours before they heard from Cassie again, apparently both she and Gordy were alright apart from numb ears and splitting headaches but sadly weren't able to hang any longer for the day, which left only Scarlet and Richard alone in her home. Putting the phone down Scarlet looked over to him shyly as if expecting him to have an idea to avoid the uncomfortable silence, after a while though he just sighed "so, any idea what that limo was doing out front?" he asked her making her tense up.

Just before the limo pulled away Scarlet saw the person inside, and the very memory made her shake with pure fear. The woman inside was known simply as the demon of Valakare, the woman who owns most of the city's business, with two other families owning the rest. The memory still fresh showed a pale skinned woman, tall and shapely, with blood red hair that was full and long and covered her eyes when it moved even slightly, those piercing cruel velvet eyes that would not hold any emotion but her cruelty an even darker red played as her lipstick and her dress, with the eight straps holding on like a spider, although she wasn't looking in their direction Scarlet was still taken aback from seeing her,

This woman's name, which puts fear in all of its resident's minds? Yvaine jade, of the jade laboratories and research.

Shaking her head Scarlet instead looked at her calendar thankful he didn't know of her horror. "She…she's not someone you would want to meet Richard." She warned, worried about why she was at Mai's house for in the first place. When Richard saw how even just asking about it made her tense up he grew concerned and suspicious, when he first got here he felt that there was something not quite right, now he was sure about it, this town had a darker side to it.

Deciding to leave it for now he sighed and changed the subject "so…. Anything you wanna do?" he asked noticing Scarlet was looking at the calendar next to her phone, once he looked over he saw that there were three dates circled, all within the next three months, along with the date when summer begins and college ends. _'Guardian festival….meteor showers….and the southern side celebration?' _ As he read them he got more and more confused,

"Hey Scarlet, what's the southern side celebration?" he asked looking at her snapping out of her spacing out session "hmm? Oh long time ago we had a fire that consumed and destroyed north side, the celebration is to celebrate the few lives that survived"

Hearing this Richard nodded but looked concerned "so…..how did the fire start?" he asked her noticing she was avoiding looking at him now. After a while she sighed shaking her head

"no one knows, just that somehow Yvaine was involved" she finally looked to him with an expression showing she'd rather not talk of this disaster as she started walking away from the phone, leaving Ratchet staring at the phone when it started to ring again or more importantly the caller ID '_Don'tlookatthephonedon'tlookatthephonedon'tlookatthephone. ...Darn it Ratchet, Don't look at the phone!'_ he panicked seeing that it was Mai calling thinking if he didn't look she'd stop calling, but the ringing persisted until it went to voicemail. That was when Mai's voice blared out in full surround volume almost scaring the hair off of Richards head. "SCARLET ANSWER YOUR PHONE! I KNOW YOU'RE THERE!...please?" it screamed until the end where it seemed to have calmed down and sounded more upset like she really needed a hug, although from a past experience Richard did not feel all that bad for that he should've done. Scarlet started walking back having just gone to the bathroom during the whole event when she saw him on the other side of the hall trying to get as far away from the phone as he could. But before she could even ask the door started to knock or rather be pounded on by whoever was behind it, followed by a voice a more upset moany and impatient voice "SCAAAAAAAAARRRRLLLEEEEEETTT… OPEN UUUUUUUUP…..." it was Mai, making Richard groan and face palm before calling out knowing that she would probably be clawing at her door now to get in like a cat would. "MAI! GET OF SCARLETS DOOR!" he yelled hearing the scratching as she cried again "BUT SCARAAAAAARRRLEEEEET-"

"NOW!" he interrupted making her whine more as Scarlet waited looking a little worried before going to albeit hesitantly let her inside, seeing that she was indeed hanging onto the door looking up at them with watery kitty eyes before very suddenly launching at her and hugged Scarlet so tightly that she fell onto her back from the force.

"Um hi Mai, um….everything ok?" Scarlet asked a bit nervous as she hugged tightly before sitting up and gently pushed Mai of her with Richard barely holding in a laugh.

After the awkwardness was over Scarlet invited them both to the living room whilst she herself left to the kitchen, where she was for a good half an hour letting them talk amongst themselves quietly along with a third person that only those two knew of.

When Scarlet finally came back she was in fact holding a plate full of brown cookies at first they looked like they were double chocolate, but Mai caught a smell she didn't think would be in a cookie, coffee

"Scarlet?...what are those?" she asked with some suspicion as she placed the plate down on the table. Scarlet paused looking at them before smiling softly "they're my own recipe, mocha cookies" she smiled before sitting back down not seeing the third figure hiding in Richard backpack once more.

Mai watched her for a few seconds before taking one of the- now apparent- freshly baked cookies and slowly took the first bite. Before scoffing the rest of it down like she hadn't eaten in weeks. Making both Scarlet and Richard jump and inch away slightly as she started to go for a second cookie as if a lioness stalking its prey grabbing the plate itself and practically hugged it as I it as if it was the most treasured thing in the world as she ate each one, or more likely inhaled each one. Before looking to Scarlet dog begging for a treat, except she didn't have a tail to wag "got anymore?" she asked sweetly though to Scarlet that was a great compliment as she sweat dropped and nodded "yeah I made a tin full-" she was about to say where when Mai stormed out to look for them "um….they're in the cake cupboard middle shelf" she called earning a grateful thank you back as Richard just lost it and laughed, almost falling of the sofa as Scarlet looked back to him "what? What did i?" she asked as he wiped a tear from his eye and grinned at her

"nothing bad scar but you've just found the best way to bribe her to do anything" he laughed out making her blush a little as Mai walked back in pleased with herself holding the tin full of the home made treats, after the three calmed down more they started just chatting talking about the events that Richard saw earlier, such as the Guardians festival was for the towns oldest and local legend of the twelve guardians and the monster they saved everyone from. But once they touched on the southern celebration Mais fists clenched tightly in anger which Richard saw before he spoke up .

"Mai? ….. You ok?" he asked before she just snapped in anger

"Shut up…"

"Huh?"

"I said shut up! It's not a celebration for the lost! It's a celebration for the fact that those idiotic jerks are still alive and aren't dead from it! It just makes me so sick to the teeth to see them celebrate that MASSACRE AND DISASTER!" she yelled out her eyes appearing to be stinging with tears making Richard move away and Scarlet looked down

"so…does that mean….that I make you sick too…?" she asked quietly holding her cup "even though I was one of the survivors? ….we only just made it out of that blaze. But….we lost our family home…..and our grandfather.." she sighed staring down as Mai looked to her, briefly showing sympathy before that turned to anger and disgust as she looked away

"well I lost my entire FAMILY in that fire so you got off easy!" she snapped making Richard feel like he just walked into a minefield here

"Mai….she didn't-" he reached for her shoulder to be shrugged off sharply as she continued

"my baby sister, my mom, and my dad even my big brother perished in that fire! All of them….." she started to cry harder here, like a wall had just been shattered "I lost everything in that fire. My home , my belongings….my treasures my pets EVERYTHING EVEN MY SANITY WAS LOST TO THAT DAY" she screamed holding her head as Scarlet stood up and walked over to her kneeling in front of her, sure she was just as confused and scared when Mai mentioned that she lost her sanity, but she just couldn't let Mai cry. To her it just wasn't right, so she placed a hand on Mais knee and looked at Mais face as she looked back

"I can't pretend I know how you feel Mai, but….i hope I can try to make it better for you? Ok?...so…how about you come with me to the kitchen….and I'll teach you the recipe for the cookies? sound good?" she asked in her attempt to cheer her up

But Mai simply glared at her as if insulted "you honestly think….you can just cheer me up like that?" she sighed getting up and wiped her eye as she turned away too leave but despite her wiping she was still crying lightly "I'm sorry….i didn't …..mean too" she started but her sadness made her unable to continue before she just left standing in the living rooms door before looking over her shoulder "thanks for the cookies anyway…see ya Monday Scarlet" she spoke full of regret before leaving Richard and Scarlet in the room in once again an awkward situation.

After a while of uncomfortable silence Richard felt it best to leave and get at least some repairs of aphelion done. Once he let Clank out of the bag again and took his hologuise of he went to the Garage to begin work as Clank looked to Scarlet's home having been research on the disaster during their heated conversation and was still trying to find how Mai was involved, but when Ratchet zapped himself he instantly stopped and ran over to where the Lombax was hanging out of the ships engine.

The sight was a normal sight for Clank to see ever since that first adventure of the two together, sighing Clank walked up to his old friend to lend a hand. But saw that Ratchet was thinking on something else besides tightening the interstellar warp condenser bolt

"Ratchet, is everything alright?" he asked as he sat on the edge of the engine, earning a sigh from the male

"no…not really…..i just found out that this town has a lot of secrets that most don't want to tell and two of the people I met have experience a disaster head one and ….argh" he groaned having lifted his head too fast and hit the hood above him.

"ah…it is certainly strange, but what puzzles me more Ratchet…..is why you have not told miss ruby who you are yet, miss Valshe knows already and it seems miss ruby knows your adventures and admires you from them, wouldn't it be better if she w?" he asked confused and curious.

Shaking his head from the developing head ache Ratchet started to walk out again having done what he could for the day on repairs "no, I can't Clank Scarlet's…well she's sensitive and shy… if I show her despite what anyone says she will freak out and then who knows what will happen Mai found out cos of those weird abilities she says she has and from what I've seen Scarlet is nothing like Mai. So no it won't be better if she knew, no longer would she consider us friends we could actually be put on a dissection table from it or worse,

"now I am sure you are blowing this out of proportion Ratchet, I do not think that she would tell on us"

"no…she might not but….she still wouldn't trust us if I told her and right now…..she's the only normal person I know and I wanna keep it that way….." Ratchet sighed pinching the bridge of his nose. Looking up to see that it was gonna be a clear night he decided to hit the hay early, but he was woken up even earlier the next morning by a pounding on the door, groaning he got up to see that the pounding was in fact a thunder storm, but he wasn't paying attention to that, no…what he was that he left the window open letting the rain hit his hologuise,

Panicking he rushed and grabbed it and put it on hoping it was working fine alright since he never got round to fully waterproofing the thing, sadly against his hopes the watch did not switch on when he put it on his wrist, he did everything he could only when he put a thin strip of dry metal did it work, but it wasn't permanent as it was liable to slip out at any moment, sighing with annoyance about to go to his garage to fix it properly he heard the door knock this time, making him jump and groan hoping for once it was Mai. As he pulled a clean shirt on whilst hopping down the stair he saw a shadow on the glass of his door showing it was a short girl, making him believe it was Mai when he got to the foot of the stairs.

Upon opening it however he was met with a certain girl he saw a week ago, and a large bat to the face. Knocking him out before the girl dragged his unconscious body to her large black van. And drove off.


End file.
